Ambarella AmbaCast6000 Platform Ushers in a New Era of Broadcast Video Processing

High Quality, Low Power, Future Proof Universal Encoding and Transcoding
Platform Supports HD and SD, H.264 and MPEG-2 Formats
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Expanding its leadership position in broadcast video market, Ambarella, Inc.,
the leader in low-power, high-definition video compression and image processing
semiconductors, today introduced its latest offering, the AmbaCastTM 6000
universal broadcast video processor. The AmbaCast 6000 is the world`s first
single-chip encode/decode/transcode/transrate platform for H.264 and MPEG-2, up
to 1920x1080P60. This innovative platform enables Ambarella`s broadcast
equipment partners to reshape the future of broadcast industry, in terms of
functionality, density, quality, and platform agility.

"With a single hardware platform, equipment makers can provide solutions for
practically any broadcast market by selecting different software options. For
example, the AmbaCast 6000 platform can be configured to deploy MPEG-2 SD/HD
services for North American Cable TV market, or H.264 SD/HD services for Telco
TV market in Europe," stated Fermi Wang, CEO of Ambarella, Inc. "Service
providers can deploy improved MPEG-2 SD encoding with AmbaCast 6000 today, and
transition their services to H.264 and HD, all the way to 1080p60, without any
change in hardware. I am excited to offer the AmbaCast 6000 platform with its
unprecedented flexibility and unrivaled video quality."

AmbaCast 6000 further raises the bar for broadcast video quality, delivered
through innovative video algorithms. At the heart of the enhancements is
Rate-Distortion Optimization (RDO) mode decision. Until today, enormous
computational cost had limited RDO to non-real-time or server-farm based
encoders, while multi-chip solutions suffer significant performance, power and
quality degradation form the overhead of transferring data among its processors.
AmbaCast 6000`s groundbreaking architecture delivers RDO on a single chip for
real-time HD video broadcast, in production today. This platform, built in
65-nanometer (nm) process technology which is the most advanced lithographic
node for manufacturing semiconductors in large volumes today, maintains low
power consumption but aggressively pushes performance and functionality
envelope.

"AmbaCast 6000 is industry`s first HD transcoder capable of Full
Decode/Re-Encode implementation on a single chip," said Didier LeGall, Executive
Vice President of Ambarella Inc. "The intelligent re-encode function optimizes
for the target compression format, image resolution, and bitrate by encoding
baseband video while making use of the important information extracted from the
original bitstream such as picture type and quantizer value. With AmbaCast 6000,
service providers can enjoy the cost saving offered by transmitting H.264 to the
head-end, while extending the life of their deployed base of MPEG-2 set-top
boxes."

AmbaCast 6000 Platform Highlights:

One Platform for Many Services

* Satellite - Increase number of channels per transponder
* Cable - Increase number of channels per QAM modulator, support different video
formats for Video-on-Demand (VOD) or Switched Digital Video (SDV)
* Telco - Increase the reach of the services, drastically improve video quality,
enable 3-Screens application
* Terrestrial - Increase number of channels, support different video formats,
e.g. MPEG-2 SD/HD for ATSC, H.264 for mobile and handheld

Unparalleled Video Quality

* RDO - World`s first single chip supports RDO implementation for HD video
* 3D Noise Reduction - Pre-processing capabilities include an advanced, highly
programmable 3D spatio-temporal filters with Motion Compensated Temporal
Filtering

Low Power

* High density - 65nm process and advanced power management technology enable
dense and efficient form factor
* High reliability - High level of integration lowers system component counts,
and low power reduces thermal dissipation so overall system reliability is
improved
* Green technology - Help build environment-friendly Head-end offices

Future Proof

* SD to Full HD - Clear path for upgrade from SD all the way to 1080p60 Full HD
* MPEG-2 to H.264 - Unmatched compression quality for both MPEG-2 and H.264 to
enable format migration
* Full Re-Encode Transcoding - Flexible transcoding from MPEG-2 to H.264 or
H.264 to MPEG-2
* Proxy stream - High quality 2nd stream for YouTube, mobile TV or other
emerging Internet and Mobile applications

Pricing and Availability

The AmbaCast 6000 product is currently sampling to customers. Pricing
information can be obtained directly from Ambarella

The URL for this news release is: http://www.ambarella.com/news/press_releases/

About Ambarella

Ambarella is the technology leader in low-power, high-definition video
compression and image processing semiconductors. Ambarella products are helping
to define a new class of hybrid digital cameras that bring consumers unmatched
high definition video and digital still images together in one device. Many
cameras and camcorders have been shipping using Ambarella SoC. Ambarella `s
technology is also widely used in broadcasting and a large amount of TV
programming worldwide is transmitted using Ambarella compression chips. For more
information on the Ambarella product line, please visit www.ambarella.com.

Ambarella, Inc.

2975 San Ysidro Way

Santa Clara, CA 95051

T: 1 408 734 8888

F: 1 408 734 0788

http://www.ambarella.com

Ambarella
Haowei Zhang, 1-408-734-8888
hzhang@ambarella.com
or
Maestro Marketing & PR
Barbara Kalkis, 1-408-996-9975
kkalkis@compuserve.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009